Christmas with a Crown

So in spite of the reviews here the numeric ratings are in the 4-5 star range. That's generous. This is a terrible movie and that's coming from somebody that is actually fond of the hallmark royal themed movies. The lead actor may be ok in other roles but he is terrible in this--he floats in an out of a bad British accent. Of course the script is so bad that its hard to blame the actors but the result is that this thing is barely watchable. I made it through the whole thing but am a little shocked that I actually finished it.

There are lots of royal themed movies in the Hallmark vault. Try an alternative because this one is not worth you time.

Prince of some made-up European country escapes to snowy American town (anonymously, of course) to have a Christmas without tradition and formality. Meets woman on a mission. Rest is par for the course.

It's the really bad English accents that grate. The valet, Arthur, who hot foots it over to America, has an even worse English accent than Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins - it's like listening to nails down a blackboard. I would have expected better from Teryl Rothery but sadly her attempt at Received Pronunciation is also under-trained.

There's enough English actors out there - even in North America - so please just use them!

The set decorators, music, lighting and locations - plus the parts of the father and the librarian (both fighting against a poor script) - deserve far more stars, but the two leads are so mismatched that even they don't look like they're enjoying it, so 1 star it is.

And don't get me started with what happens at the end of the movie in the middle of the road. Good grief.

When I watched this move a few months ago, on streaming, I erroneously blamed it on Hallmark. Now it' showing on Lifetime channel Therefore. I owe Hallmark my deepest apologies. Thus clarified, I still find this is, hands down, the worst royal TV movie ever. Save your intellect and watch a rerun of Gilligan' Island. That would be infinitely more entertaining.

This is a no more than serviceable Prince Pretending to be a Commoner in America story. He is visiting a small town trying to discover the true meaning of Christmas, so camouflaged as it is in the palace by meaningless tradition and formality. He goes to the town that a late former friend of his mother lived and that to him embodies the spirit of Christmas via her letters to his mother, the queen. He gets on the wrong side of a woman who is trying to save the local library by reviving her mothers yearly project, the Winter fest. Her mother, it turns out, just happens to be the woman whose letters to his mother has brought him to town.

Terryl Rothery plays the queen, who is pretty unpleasant through almost the whole movie. Marcus Rosner, a Hallmark veteran is good as the square-jawed dimpled prince. He was princely. I actually liked his use of a quasi English accent when in his prince persona and an American accent when in disguise. Unfortunately, the actress who played his love interest was not a good match, in my opinion. For one thing, she seemed too mature and worldly-wise to be a romantic lead for a prince in disguise in small-Town U. S. A.. The character got on my bad side right away by foolishly turning down his enthusiastic offer of help with the saving the library because he was a visitor and not part of the community. Especially since No One in the Actual Community stepped up to the plate.

There is a priceless scene near the end of the movie where Queen Terryl orders Prince Nicolas to kneel before her and pulls out a crown that looks like it was snagged from the Burger King mascot. She **spoiler alert** coronates her son right there in the middle of winter fest. I'm not sure whether this added a star to my rating or subtracted a star. But one thing for sure, Terryl and Marcus looked distinctly uncomfortable.

This is a pure formula "Royal" movie where the prince maintains his anonymity through most of it. There is the antagonistic confrontation at the beginning. The anonymous prince helps with a Christmas festival. The queen is throwing tantrums, admittedly somewhat mild tantrums. There are so many other formulaic plot lines. There is also some wild rationalizing to work things out to the predictable outcome.

I haven't seen Lisa Durupt as a romantic lead, but in many supporting roles like best friend or sister. Marcus Rosner is a rom/com veteran, many of which with Hallmark. (This movie is Lifetime.) As another reviewer pointed out, Rosner vacillates back and forth into an English accent (obligatory for all Royal movies). I found this distracting. There was some chemistry but it wasn't great.

There is nothing to set this movie apart from the crowd. It won't be on my future viewing list.